8-year-old hero saves 6 family members from fire, dies trying to save 2 more

Eight-year-old Tyler Doohan rescued six family members before dying in fire.

EAST ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Eight-year-old Tyler J. Doohan was by all accounts a great kid and loved by his family. This past Sunday night Tyler showed that he loved them more by saving six family members from a roaring fire and dying trying to save his disabled grandfather.

A fire broke out in the mobile trailer the family was sleeping in that night; Tyler was sleeping over with his cousins and grandfather, whom Tyler called his “best friend.” After waking up and realizing the trailer was on fire, little Tyler sprang into action. He went in and out of the fire pulling six family members — both adults and children — to safety. When he realized his granddad was still in the fire-engulfed trailer, he reportedly yelled to his granddad, “I’m coming.”

Tyler and his granddad never made it out. The fire trucks arrived within minutes of the call but it was too late. Three charred bodies were found; one adult male in the front, and a little boy attempting to pull an adult who was missing a leg in the back of the trailer. It was Tyler and his granddad.

“It makes me really proud, it really does, but I just want him back,” Tyler’s mother, Crystal Vrooman, told the local news.

“I’m just so grateful that he went with people that he loved. He didn’t cross over alone,” she added.